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Drake · S2 E1
Room for Improvement
Still on Degrassi, still unknown. A mixtape uploaded to MySpace that nobody asked for
It is Valentine's Day 2006, and a 19-year-old television actor uploads a mixtape called Room for Improvement to MySpace. Nobody downloads it.
Drake performs "Started From the Bottom," a victory lap over everything this episode covers. Director X films him recreating the mundane reality of his pre-fame life: bus rides, odd jobs, total obscurity.
Started From the Bottom (2013)
Mike Zombie's production is deceptively simple: a looping synth line and heavy 808s that refuse to let up. Drake isn't rapping about poverty in the traditional sense. He's rapping about being dismissed, laughed at, and ignored. The bottom was uploading music to MySpace from a TV set dressing room and watching nobody care. The first verse is defiant, the second is triumphant.
The Actor Who Raps
Drake is still showing up to the Degrassi set five days a week, still rolling around in Jimmy Brooks' wheelchair, still cashing checks that barely cover his mother's bills. Between takes, he fills composition notebooks with rap lyrics. After wrap, he drives to whatever basement studio in Toronto will let him record for free.
TAP TO REVEAL: What did Drake spend his Degrassi paychecks on?
“I came in the game on some acting stuff, so the first reaction I got in music was, 'This is the kid from Degrassi, he's never going to be anything.'”
— Drake, interview with Complex, 2010
Underground Kings
From Take Care (2011). Drake pays tribute to Houston's UGK and the entire tradition of underground rap. On this track, he looks back at the years when he was underground himself: unknown, unheard, grinding in basements. 40's murky, atmospheric production sounds like driving through Toronto at 3 AM, which is exactly what Drake was doing during the Room for Improvement era.
Underground Kings, Drake (2011)
Read the lyrics while you listen. Drake pays tribute to Houston's UGK and every underground rapper who came before him. 40's murky production sounds like driving through Toronto at 3 AM.
What was Drake's first ever mixtape called?
Room for Improvement doesn't break through, but Drake doesn't stop. Within a year, he's back with a second tape, sharper bars, and a placement on BET that changes everything.
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